Japanese man loses USB with personal details of every city resident after night of partying

A Japanese city worker lost a USB stick containing the personal details of every resident after a night of partying (Representative Image)

A worker in Japan lost a USB flash drive containing the personal details every resident of the city after a night of alcohol-fuelled partying.

Officials in Amagasaki, western Japan, were forced to apologise after the unnamed worker lost a USB drive which contained the names, addresses, dates of birth and tax details of nearly half a million people.

According to The Guardian, the man – who works for a private company hired to oversee Covid-19 relief payments to local households –transferred data on the entire city’s residents onto the flash drive on Tuesday evening. He placed the memory stick in his bag before heading out for after-work drinks.

After spending all of Tuesday evening drinking at a restaurant, the man fell asleep on the road, reports BBC. When he woke up the next morning, he realised that his bag and the flash drive which contained sensitive information were both missing.

The worker reported the loss to the police after unsuccessfully searching for the USB drive on Wednesday.

City officials said that besides the names and addresses of residents, the flash drive contained sensitive information like tax details, bank account numbers and details on families that receive social security.

Authorities apologised to city residents in a press conference Thursday. "We deeply regret that we have profoundly harmed the public's trust in the administration of the city," an Amagasaki city official said at the press conference.

In a statement, the city’s government also criticised the worker for carrying the drive personally instead of using a more secure method and for not erasing the data after his work was done.

A silver lining to the entire episode? The data on the drive was encrypted and no leaks have been reported as yet.